” iCars® service is a network of luxury cars, SUV’s and Mercedes Sprinter vans in San Francisco. This network is accessed through a sophisticated mobile application that allows riders to book and pay for on-demand, private and eco-Iuxury transportation service.

iCars® is managed by Bauer’s Intelligent Transportation, leveraging its transportation expertise and quality standards to ensure responsive, safe and superior transportation. iCars® service combines one of the best high-end transportation companies in the USA with the latest mobile technology to improve the ease and experience of on-demand transportation. What is it? Luxury car service ordered “in the moment” for 1 to 12 passengers—in and around San Francisco, to SFO (San Francisco International Airport)

How to book? Through your smart phone—Apps available for iPhone and Android phones—reserve and pay online”

Hey Gary Bauer! Doesn’t your company(ies) kind of suck?

I think so!

I say that because your Yelp ratings are pretty low even including all those five-star shill reviews. Check it:

Wouldn’t this be an upgrade from the diesel buses what are being used to take workers back and forth betwixt San Francisco and Silly Valley these days?

First off, a lot of those corporate shuttle buses are being operated by that cheesy Bauer’s Transportation Company, right? So that’s not good.

(To review, Bauer’s doesn’t have a “solar bus,” despite what self-appointed Bauer Brand Ambassador / San Francisco Chronicle “City Bright” / corporate sell-out Zennie Abrahamtried to sell people last year in the electronic pages of SFGate. (Ooh, how embarrassing for all concerned!) No no, if anything and at best, Bauer’s can get you a regular old diesel bus with solar panels on top, big whoop.)

Second off, you could be the first, the first company in the bay area to go electric. Sure, it’d be a pain to recharge these rigs every day, but you could figure it out. And think of the bragging rights.

O.K. fine.

Hertz First Car-Rental Company to Deploy a Zero-Emissions All-Electric Bus – Hertz uses the BYD eBUS-12 at LAX

PARK RIDGE, N.J., Oct. 24, 2011 — The Hertz Corporation (NYSE: HTZ), the world’s largest general use airport car rental brand, announces today the use of BYD’s eBUS-12 at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), the first such use to be conducted by a rental car company. Hertz is testing the all-electric on its main routes to gain data on this new platform.

“Hertz is aggressively moving forward with its Global EV program, introducing electric vehicles into its worldwide fleet and testing other electric vehicles as they become available,” says Mark P. Frissora, Hertz Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “Hertz’s mission is to provide the most technologically advanced mobility solutions to our customers, including the buses we use as part of our everyday operations at airports. We continue Hertz’s track record of innovation by being first to deploy an all-electric shuttle bus in the US.”

The BYD pure electric eBUS-12 is able to run 155 miles on a single charge in urban conditions, more than enough for Hertz’s use at its airport locations, and its energy consumption is less than 100 kWh per 60 miles. The eBUS-12 is designed with the customer in mind, with a low floor and ample space to allow easy passenger loading and unloading and the bus has specially engineered sound insulation for a quieter cabin experience. The eBUS is being tested at Hertz’s Los Angeles Airport location, shuttling car rental customers between the terminals and Hertz’s rental facility. With a lower cost of ownership than a traditional gas powered bus, replacing just one traditional bus with the eBUS will reduce emissions by over 320 kg of CO2 (per 150 miles traveled) and save Hertz an average of $76* per day, per bus in fuel costs! (*32 gallons of diesel at $3.20/gal are replaced with $25.92 in electricity for $0.08/Kwh — the night time EV charge rates in LA).

BYD America President, Stella Li, stated, “BYD is thrilled to partner with HERTZ to demonstrate this significant breakthrough in zero-emissions buses. Not only is this eBUS a third less expensive to operate, but the total life-time costs are much less expensive than any other comparable 40-foot bus. Hertz is a leader in electric vehicles and other innovations and we are pleased to see that Hertz is the first rental company to deploy an all-electric bus.”

Hertz recently expanded its EV initiative to China, making it the first global rental car company to offer electric vehicles (EVs) on three continents. In its first year, the Hertz Global EV initiative has grown from a vision to a market presence cities around the world including New York, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, London and Shenzhen, offering the most diverse fleet of EVs from manufactures including BYD, Nissan, GM, Mitsubishi, Renault, Daimler and Tesla. Hertz is uniquely positioned to introduce multiple groups of consumers – urban drivers, university students, travelers and corporations – to all-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles. As part of its strategy, Hertz is forming partnerships with automakers, charging station providers, municipalities, NGOs, corporations and other stakeholders.

Hertz plans to increase its global EV presence by deploying vehicles in other countries in the coming months. Hertz Global EV will continue to leverage the company’s rental and car sharing locations as bases for vehicles and charging stations, and tap into its technology – including sophisticated fleet management tools and the consumer-facing GPS systems, including the NeverLost GPS system in the U.S. – to help form an EV grid.

For more information, visit www.hertz.com or www.hertzondemand.com.

About Hertz

Hertz is the largest worldwide airport general use car rental brand operating from more than 8,500 locations in 146 countries worldwide. Hertz is the number one airport car rental brand in the U.S. and at 81 major airports in Europe, operating both corporate and licensee locations in cities and airports in North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. In addition, the Company has licensee locations in cities and airports in Africa and the Middle East. Product and service initiatives such as Hertz #1 Club Gold(R), NeverLost(R) customized, in-car GPS system, SIRIUS XM Satellite Radio, and unique cars and SUVs offered through the Company’s Prestige, Fun and Green Collections, set Hertz apart from the competition. The Company also operates the Advantage car rental brand and the global car sharing club Hertz on Demand. And, Hertz operates one of the world’s largest equipment rental businesses, Hertz Equipment Rental Corporation, from approximately 325 branches in the United States, Canada, China, France, Spain and Italy.

About BYD:

BYD was ranked #1 at the top of Bloomberg’s and BusinessWeek’s 2009 Tech 100 List (http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20100520006751/en/BYD-Tops-Bloomberg-Businessweek%E2%80%99s-12th-Annual-Tech) and is the leading manufacturer of advanced, environmentally-friendly battery technologies like the BYD’s Iron Phosphate battery used in BYD electric vehicles and electric buses. BYD’s solar panels and LED Lighting systems have CEC, TUV/CE and UL listings, and the company enjoys rapid growth in consumer electronics space and electrified transportation sector manufacturing under its BYD brand. BYD is the fastest-growing Chinese automotive and green energy technology enterprise. The Company trades on the Hong Kong Exchange (HKE) under the ticker numbers (HK.0285 – BYD Electronics) and (HK.1211 – BYD Company Ltd.), as well as on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange under the ticker number (002594 – BYD Company Ltd.). For more information, visit www.byd.com, www.facebook.com/bydcompany or email pr@byd.com.

Let me tell you about back in the day – back in the day, the worst drivers on the road were the nuts behind the steering wheels of those dark blue SuperShuttle airport vans. Well guess what – these vans are getting video cameras that will record unsafe driving practices and then report on drivers wirelessly.

Check it:

“SmartDrive measures safety for fleet vehicle drivers by monitoring their driving habits as well as capturing accidents and erratic driver behaviors through video. This is done by installing cameras in the vehicles and reviewing events that are generated by the cameras. A SmartDrive camera includes two lenses—one facing the front of the vehicle and one facing the inside of the vehicle—that capture events generated by the camera’s g-force sensors. These events are professionally reviewed by SmartDrive and reports are created for the fleet managers.”

Best I can figure, these cameras are always on but the video gets recorded over if there’s no activation from the g-force sensors. But once some incident occurs, like a sudden stop or even an uncomfortable-for-the-passengers lane change, then the box will snitch on the driver. It’s like a black box on an airliner.

MUNI has something similar, in a way, but why don’t we have a “Measured Safety Program” for other bad drivers like San Francisco cabbies, or Toyota Prius and BMW owners?

“SmartDrive to Equip SuperShuttle and Other Veolia Transportation Services with the Latest in High Tech Safety and Eco-Driving Systems – SmartDrive Safety and Eco-Driving system works to help improve driving performance – reducing collisions and saving fuel.

“Are you stupid? No one – especially me – has said the buses had Solar Engines! Where the hell did you get your education? A San Francisco Bar? Learn to read — for you own good.”

Well, I don’t know about the nonsensical term “Solar Engines” (oddly capitalized, non?)* but I do know he called a diesel bus a “solar bus” so I called him on it. (Then he started calling it a conversion to an “electric bus”, but of course the rig in question started out life as a big old heavy, smelly diesel bus and it will end its life as a big old heavy, smelly, diesel bus, end of story.)

But maybe all his yammering will get him an invite for 2011, who knows. And then maybe he won’t be whinging all the time.

So, c’mon Academy, kick somebody out of your show to make room for Zennie. Somehow, that could result in Zennie62 “advancing women in business and politics.” (I mean, the best woman for that job is a man, right girlfriends?)

All right, now I’m begging. Please, Academy, give him his ticket or voucher or whatever he wants. If anyone deserves to yammer his way to the Academy Awards, it’s Zennie62.

D’accord?

D’accord!

*This is called a negative pregnant, a device typically employed by con men, criminals and lawyers. Not sure what a “solar engine” is but Zennie called a diesel bus a solar bus (and then later an electric bus) – that’s the issue at hand.

“This is silly. You type “here’s an electric bus that gets it’s juice from solar,” and if you bothered to visit the website, you’d find that what Bauer’s is specializing in, is a conversion to exactly that: “an electric bus that gets it’s juice from solar.” What’s the deal? Did you just see that I blogged this and BLINDLY challenged it without thinking? I’m used to that from people in the Bay Area. This was another really stupid example.”

So maybe Zennie62 still thinks it’s still not a diesel bus just after I explained just that to him? (And is Zennie a local, a “City Bright,” or is he the Man from Mars, the auslander, paid to comment about “people from the Bay Area?” I’m unclear on that.)

I don’t know why the vaunted SFGate, an international website with employees that have expense accounts and whatnot, an international website that gets two to three orders of magnitude more traffic than this tiny WordPress joint, would come after said tiny WordPress joint.

*Could those solar panels power a single hair dryer? It depends. Drive the “solar bus” to Ecuador and then, on a clear “bright” sunny day at noon, I’d say probably they could, but I don’t have the exact specs on the panels and the energy storage system…

So, and this might be news to Z62 and the people at Bauer, your vaunted solar / solar-hybrid bus is actually a diesel bus.

(Actually, diesel engines love to idle. They don’t get into a lot of the issues that gasoline engines have when idling. And diesels don’t use all that much fuel while idling, so that’s why it used to be industry practice to let diesels idle for extended periods even without passengers inside. But it doesn’t look good and it pisses off the neighbors sometimes so that’s why laws and guidelines have popped up lately. Anyway…)

Or, maybe this article was an ad for Bauer. Actually, that makes a lot more sense. And in that case, Zennie Abraham and Bauer Transpo are allowed a dollop of puffery, so no biggee.